A Handbag Easel :)

Been playing again :)
It's DD's OH's mums birthday on Sunday. Its also my MIL's birthday too but she lives in Bali and says not to post anything coz it will go walkabout...

I asked DD what does Joel's mum like then? They both replied fashion, she's very trendy. Unlike me then in my hiking boots and my OH's Springbok's shirts :)
I knew immediately what stamp I was going to use. I won some candy from Victoria Case last year and these are perfect for a fashionable gal!
As I was in a tinkering mood I also decided I wanted to make a handbag shaped card and thought I'd show how easy it is to do shaped easels too.

I started with a sketched template and then folded a card in half and drew around the template and cut out. I also made another separate piece as shown below.

The papers I used on the handbag were bearly mine designs - Designer extreme vol 3 and starburst stains Black Orchid Silver.
OK the top half is 2 images by Victoria Case for SCACD - Ms Chardonnay and Suzanne coloured with promarkers. I added some silver peel offs for accents and an organza ribbon bow with a butterfly charm. The organza ribbon has been heated to make it curl :)
I've stamped using some embossing powder called "Stick n stamp" and used a hot pink foil on it. The stamp is a sentiment by Victoria Case too. I added a handle using tiger tail and ribbon.

Closed View

Stick N Stamp uing tonertex Hot Pink foils

Onto the bottom half! I always struggle with the bases of easel cards and as I went into my craft room I spotted some post it notes on my desk so thought ahhh that'll do! It also means the card can be used for longer than just stuck on a mantlepiece for a week (theres a LOT of work in it!) I added the post it note over some black and white spotted organza ribbon and made the funky flower. Saw this in a *really really* old book I bought from the library about 5 years ago.

I'll try my best to explain how to do it (I will do a tutorial soon!)
First cut a small circle of card and some strips of ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half (Check the length to what you want it to be) The book says to stitch them onto the card but the book was written before glue dots were invented hehe! I added the folded up ribbon to the card using glue dots on the ends then I've added a large flower as a centepiece which was white but I dyed it with starburst stains a while ago :)

And the finished card :)

I'm often asked where I get my ideas and influences and with this it was I just wanted to do a handbag as I associated immediately when DD said the word "fashion" and I wanted to do a shaped easel to show how easy they are. The post it was because I saw one whilst mooching round the craft room, the flower was from a really ancient book. The pink foiled stamp I was actually rummaging for my detail white EP and found that instead so thought ahhh that would work with some foils and it did!

The handle of the bag is a clear influence from Debbie Dolphins project in craft stamper last month. The curled organza was something Jill from The Stampman showed on her techniques show on create and craft a couple of weeks back and I was curious to see how it worked so there ya go!

I'm entering this into...

The Pink Elephant - Polka dots, a bow and pink

Quixotic Challenges - Flutterby (Use a butterfly, mine is the pink butterfly charm)

A Spoonful of Sugar - Freestyle

Stamp Something - Funny Somethings (The phrase says Is it friday yet?)

Crafty Cardmakers #13 - Hearts & Romance

Its challenge time again over at Crafty Cardmakers and the theme is "Hearts & Romance" for this I made a heart shaped easel card. I thought on about halfway through I could write a tutorial on it as they're so easy to make so long as you know how a basic easel card works then its a piece of cake. The tutorial for it can be found here

The papers I've used are DCWV and HOTP. The stamp is by My sentiments exactly and I've had it a looooong time! Its a square collage type stamp which I've just used a bit of it and cut into a heart shape. Its embossed onto a background of distress inks (antique linen, vintage photo and red brick) which I've then rubbed over with violet essential oil just to see what it did really! It made the colours a lot more vibrant as shown in pic 3 below. When the oil has dried I've coloured in the cupid image with promarkers and added shimmerz pixie dust to paint the wings.

I'm entering this into..

Quixotic Challenges - Ink up and old stamp
Crafty Catz - Love
Crafty Ann - Embossing
Pile it On - Warm Colors
Caardvarks - Colour Red

This is the heart shape lying on the original sheet it was cut out from. I rubbed essential oil over the image (BEFORE using the promarkers) and it made the colours a lot more vibrant and it smells nice too!

The back of the card I have written in Moonshadow ink using a fountain pen. So long as your fountain pen has a convertor you can suck ink up with then you can use your inks in it to match the card, cool huh!

Moonglow - In a pen!

It works yay!! I asked Jill over at The Stampman a few weeks back if the moonshadow inks were actually inks or stains, she replied INKS! Oooh you can see the cogs turning! Xmas and new year got in the way plus my complete lack of a short term memory despite having a dozen lists and prompts on my blackberry, I forgot to look at them so only recently did I remember to acquire myself a fountain pen with a convertor. The convertor is the important bit, this allows you to suck up ink from an ink pot or in my case a pot of yummy moonshadow in phantom fuchsia :)

I bought a cheap one off fleabay with 4 nibs and the all important convertor and gave it a whirl! Now as mica settles quite quickly you do need to shake the pen before use. I recommend you hold a piece of kitchen towel over the nib or it will decorate your ceilings!

The image I've used is by The Greetings Farm (Autumn Fairy) and is coloured with promarkers. The wings are painted with shimmerz pixie dust and I have used distress ink in antique linen and vintage photo around it which I've also used to make the vintage flower. The faux stitching is done with the moonshadow in a pen as is the writing. Its my DD's 17th birthday today so its for her :)
The lace was already naturally vintage, my nan gave it to me for xmas having found it in a long forgotten drawer at home and she knew (rightly) that I'd love it! I aged it some more with distress ink, firstly swiping ink over it then spraying it with water and scrunching. I added a drop of lavender to some paper towel to dry it off so it smells kinda vintage too!

Paperwise I've used lots of layers as I couldnt resist the A Spoonful of Sugar challenge which has a fab fab fab personalised stamp as their candy prize this week! They're a mix of MME Wild asparagus and HOTP.

The hydrangea centres were a candy prize from stampin for the weekend a few weeks back, fab bead caps which I've also added a sticky pearl to the centre and coloured them brown with a promarker. The pins originally had just a clear gem head so I added some of my own beads which are silver hearts and red teardrops.

*I've been asked a couple of times what colours I used on the dress and it was (promarkers) Red, Poppy & Crimson using the blender for the highlights and using cool grey 5 for the shadow and creases and blending that in with the red.

I'm entering this in

A Spoonful of Sugar - Lots of layers

Cute Card Thursday - Fairy Fantastic

Creative Card Crew - Punch it (Flower is punched)

C.R.A.F.T - Red

This is a sneak peak of tomorrows DT card to show you a bit more of the moonshadow in a pen and how pretty it looks! If you're good at calligraphy (which I'm not) imagine how outstanding this would look ooh!

Dewdrop Craftz #6 - Lilac & Green

Dewdrop Craftz are hosting another challenge, this time it's Lilac & Green. These work so well together and sure brightens a cold dreary day. I say cold because I've had no heating since thursday and its kinda brrrrrr in here! The 3rd gasman finally arrived at gone 4pm today and we have HEAT yay!!

I digress, back to the challenge lol!

Image is Summer Flower Girl by Dewdrop Craftz, you'll find her here. I've coloured with promarkers using the blender for highlights and greys for shadows. The sky is done with heritage shimmer ink and a piece of cut n dry foam.
Background papers are printouts from bearly mine designer extreme disk 3 and I've edged the white base card with shimmerz pixie dust for a bit more bling!

Sentiment is HOTP (I think) stamped with lime green ink. Had a smile & chuckle to myself about this as Cath has been tearing her hair out over clear stamps squashing down when stamped. I see it as a design feature, adds character but Cath is one perfectionist crafter who wont rest until its perfect and has been running experiments on her blog!

Anyhow I do hope you can join in over at Dewdrop Craftz challenge!

I'm also entering this for...

Passion for Promarkers - Any Colour and Girls, girls, girls
Sophisticat - Spring

Cath's uber cool candy!

Ooooh how nice is this candy! Mee mee pick meee lol! Didnt spot this earlier as I only do candy from time to time and when I see something I *really really* like! Only a couple of hours left so pop over to Cath's blog to enter!

I think I like Angels & Fairies :)

Most of my things have wings! I must be a collector of angels and fairies and especially love the Selina Fenech ones and have used one of her free colouring pages again. This one is "Angel of Compassion" coloured with promarkers and I've used shimmerz (pixie dust) on the wings. Funnily enough I do have shimmerz angel wings but its a bit pearly whereas pixie dust dries clear and I prefer that :-)
I used brilliance ink around the image pressing harder in places to create a cloudy type effect.

The background is Voodoo Purple Blue from the Mardi Gras set of Starburst Stains which you'll find here Jill from The Stampman demo'ed the set on Saturdays C&C show as they now have the starburst sprays. Hope you managed to catch it as it was an excellent show of techniques!
I've cuttlebugged a piece coloured with the purple using the cuttlebug birthday folder for the background.

The ribbon I got from secret santa (Vicki) and the mulberry flowers Ive had forever but am learning new ways to use them thanks to all the works I see on blogger (Esp Tab!)

I'm entering this into the following and thanks for looking x

Crafty Catz - Birthdays (Background is embossed with birthday folder)
Flutterby Wednesday - Open week
Mixed Media Monday - Wings (Used starburst stains, promarkers, brilliance ink & Shimmerz)